Extension lever



Mar. 27, 1923- 1,450,113 W. F. B. PRATT I EXTENS ION LEVER Filed Aug. 25, 1920 WITNESSES [MENTOR Z4 9% M Wgflfraiz X UN/ if? ii ATTNS Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM F. B. PRATT, OE IATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

EXTENSION LEVER.

Application filed Augiist 25, 1920. Serial No. 405,913.

A T 0 all whom-it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM F. B. PRATT, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Extension Lever, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

It is well appreciated that numerous levers, such as levers utilized for controlling mechanical movements, are often positioned in such a manner that they are difficult for an operator to quickly grasp.

This fault is particularly exemplified in connection with the emergency brake and clutch releasing levers in cars of the Ford type, which extends when in its released position, to a point at which it is incumbent upon a driver of the vehicle to lean forward to be in a position to grasp the same.

With this in View, extensions have been proposed for levers of this type, which extensions terminate at a point readily accessible to the hand of the operator, so that the lever may be quickly released.

However, these extensions have embodied one inherent defect, in that the lever might be moved, referring to the Ford type-lever, from its released position to its retracted position by means of the extension, but, it was incumbent upon the driver to lean forward and to operate the release hand lever by directly gripping the same with the hand.

Thus an operator will be capable of actuating a lever of any desired type to its retracted position, but will be incapable of returning the same to its normal position without directly engaging the hand release trip with his hands, unless the lever were not provided with a device of this nature.

With this defect in mind, I have constructed a lever extension which may be applied to any suitable type of lever, but which is particularly adapted for use in connection with levers having a hand release, such as the emergency brake lever of the Ford car, and by means of which an operator may retract the lever from its normal position, by means of the extension, and by means of which the release also may be operated through the extension.

Reference is had to the attached sheet of drawings as illustrating one practical em bodiment of my invention, and in which Figure 1 is a side view of a lever with my extension applied thereto.

ligure 2 is a rear end view of the same, an

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 33 of Figure 1 in the direction of the arrows.

In these views the reference numeral 5 indicates a lever of any desirable construction, which is provided with a conventional hand grip portion 6, and which lever further includes any conventional type of release 7, serving to operate the pawl retractin rod 8.

My extension now conveniently includes a plate 9 formed with a groove portion 10 (indicated in dotted lines) which groove portion extends throughout a certain part of the length, and in one of the faces of the plate 9, and serves to accommodate the upper end of the hand grip portion 6 of the lever 5.

A coupling of any desirable character, such as a U shaped bolt 11, conveniently passes around the grip 6 and through openings in the plate 9, nuts 12 being provided for properly retaining the whole in applied position.

A rod 13 preferably has one of its ends pivotally secured as at 14 to the upper end of the plate 10, the opposite end of the rod 13 conveniently terminating in a hand rip 15 which grip may be of any desirable 0 aracter, and may extend to any point desired. A spring 16 or other suitable element 16, has one of its ends conveniently secured as at 17 to the rod 13, its opposite end being in slidingengagexnent with the outer face of the plate 9, by means of which construction, the weight of the rod 13 is counterbalanced, and the same is normally retained in a position substantially at right angles to the plate.

Now with a view of properly operating the release 7 the rod 13 is formed-with a downwardly extending portion 18 which portion is adapted to lie in a plane at which the same contact with the upper end of the release 7.

It will now be obvious that upon the hand grip 15 being seized, and a pull exerted thereon, that the lever 5 will be swung rearwardly 1n the conventional manner. However, upon desiring to operate the pawl rod 8, the hand grip 15 maybe depressed which will result in the rod 13 swinging Obviously numerous modifications of structure might readily be resorted to without in the least departing from the spirit of my invention, which I claim as:

1. An attachment for control lever, including a rod, a plate adapted to be secured to the upper end of a lever, said rod being pivotally secured to said plate, and being formed with a downwardly extending portion adapted to effect the release of said lever when said rod is swung around its point of pivotal connection, and a spring having one of its ends secured to said rod,

its opposite end engaging said plate whereb to normally retain said rod in a fixed plane with respect to said plate.

2. An attachment for a control lever, including a rod, means forming a part of said rod for effecting the release of the lever to be operated, a plate pivotal-1y secured to one of the ends ofrsaid rod, said plate being formed with a groove portion extending through a certain part of one of the faces of said plate, the end of the lever to-be operated being adapted to lie within said groove portion, and means for engaging said lever and plate for-retaining the whole in applied position. r

3. In an emergency brake controller, in combination with a brake lever and a grip lever, alever support detachably connected with the brake lever and a service lever pivotally connected with said support and adapted to operate the grip lever and to throw the brake lever to apply the brake. WILLIAM F. B. PRATT. 

